Cigar Snob Magazine September October 2023

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER 2023

The

issue

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editorials SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2023

22 PERFECT PAIRING

RABBIT HOLE BOXERGRAIL / DIESEL WHISKEY ROW BOXERGRAIL Rabbit Hole Distillery and Diesel Cigars collaborate around the distillery’s Boxergrail line, a bold whiskey composed of 95% rye packing a serious punch. Diesel blended this namesake smoke for the whiskey and it does not disappoint.

24 PERFECT PAIRING

WRITERS’ TEARS COPPER POT / JOYA DE NICARAGUA ANTAÑO CT Flying its Irish legacy flag high, Writers’ Tears delivers a classically-styled whiskey, triple-distilled and aged in ex-bourbon barrels. Add a sumptuous Joya de Nicaragua Antaño CT and the day looks a lot better.

27 VETTE CITY ROAD TRIP An hour north of Nashville in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is mecca for Corvette owners and we’re on the spot, taking in the GM factory where America’s most revered sports car is made. We also hit the Vette museum, conveniently located near the plant.

51 GOLDEN STATE SHOWDOWN Two new cars, one a Tesla, the other a gas-powered Audi A4. We put them both through the paces through the hilly and sometimes mountainous terrain of the Left Coast. And yes, there is a winner.

75 THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD A Miami-based hospitality group, a love of cigars and refined dining meet in an emerging area of the city, and one of the partners, a Cigar Snob alumni, tells how it all came together.

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features SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2023

14 LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

16 FEEDBACK

18 WHAT’S BURNIN’

34 SMOKING HOT CIGAR SNOB FUEL AND FIRE FEATURING BLACKENED BY DREW ESTATE

57 RATINGS

82 X SCOREBOARD

84 INSTAGRAM SCOREBOARD

86 EVENTS 86 PCA WELCOME PARTY STG MEDIA COCKTAIL PARTY

88 MY FATHER AND TATUAJE’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

90 NESTOR MIRANDA’S 80TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

92 AGING ROOM AT SABOR HAVANA 94 LA AURORA AT EMPIRE CIGAR LOUNGE 96 SISTERS IN SMOKE BRUNCH 98 CARLITO FUENTE AT SERAFIN DE CUBA CIGARS

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Together for tomorrow!

InterTabac 2023 World’s Largest Trade Fair for Tobacco Products and Smoking Accessories

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VO L . 15 IS SU E 5 www.cigarsnob.com PUBLISHER & EDITOR Erik Calviño SENIOR EDITOR Steve Miller COPY EDITOR Michael LaRocca SALES & OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Oscar M. Calviño PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Ivan Ocampo ART DIRECTOR Andy Astencio ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Jamilet Calviño DIGITAL RETOUCHING SPECIALIST Ramón Santana DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGEMENT Gianni D’Alerta

Secure ticket now!

14 – 16 September Messe Dortmund Germany

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Gavin Maliska Nicolás Antonio Jiménez CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR Florin Safner CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS David Benoliel Andy Astencio Erick Quituizaca EVENT PHOTOGRAPHERS Jamilet Calviño Modern LaLa Land Creative Kevin Martin Photography Cover Photography by David Benoliel www.davidbenolielphotography.com Cover Model - Kamila Davies Cigar Snob is published bi-monthly

by Lockstock Publications, Inc. 1421-1 SW 107th Ave., #253 Miami, FL 33174-2509 Tel: 1 (786) 423-1015 Cigar Snob is a registered trademark of Lockstock Publications, Inc., all rights reserved. Reproduction in part or full without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. Cigar Snob is printed in the U.S. Contents copyright 2006, Lockstock Publications, Inc. To subscribe, visit www.cigarsnob.com

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We are living in surreal times.

While one group is arguing about how many genders exist and another is still debating whether COVID was made in a Chinese lab, we’ve got a congressional hearing going on with David Grusch, an Air Force intelligence officer turned whistleblower, proclaiming that the U.S. government is in possession of alien spacecraft and the “non-human biologics” that arrived with it. This wasn’t a claim made on some obscure tin foil message board; this was a 14-year intelligence officer in the Air Force and a member of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force answering questions before the House Oversight Committee. Grusch made numerous claims regarding aggressive activity resulting in injuries and possibly death between humans and non-humans as well as decades of elaborate and sophisticated cover-up by the government.

At around the same time, Avi Loeb, a theoretical astrophysics professor at Harvard University, appeared on NBC showing off “extraterrestrial technology” pulled from the site of the first tracked interstellar object that entered our atmosphere and exploded near Papua New Guinea.

The technology was in the form of tiny spheres that rained down on the ocean floor as the interstellar, “cigar-shaped” object exploded. The object was cataloged as IM1 for interstellar meteor No. 1, meaning it was the first object of its kind to be identified and tracked. Loeb and his team recovered hundreds of tiny spheres and eventually analyzed them back at Harvard. The composition of these spheres was “unmatched to any existing alloys in our solar system.”

In recent years Congress has established the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office to investigate incidents involving UAPs or unidentified aerial phenomenon (basically a rebranding of the term UFO with an expanded scope). Just the thought of this Pentagon-based office going around investigating incidents gives off an undeniable X-Files vibe.

So a 14-year intelligence officer in the Air Force and member of the UAP Task Force risks his career and perhaps more by turning whistleblower and appearing before the House Oversight Committee. The chair of Harvard University’s astronomy department has gone against the grain by openly declaring that what his team pulled up from the ocean floor was extraterrestrial technology. And we have modern-day Scully and Mulder running around investigating crop circles and cellphone video of fuzzy fireballs in the sky.

Can someone just give me some lead time so I can start smoking through my most prized, aged cigars before the arrival of the interplanetary colonizers? *** While my letter is all about aliens and spacecraft, the majority of this issue is focused on a more terrestrial aspiration, the need for speed. We took our photo shoot crew to Big Bear Lake in California for a Metallica and muscle car themed shoot featuring the outrageous Kamila Davies smoking the Blackened by Drew Estate M81. I suggest you stop reading this letter and go straight to p.34, I won’t be offended. Who am I kidding?

You definitely went there first! While we were in Big Bear Lake, our senior

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editor Steve Miller was in Napa Valley and the Sierras test driving and comparing a gas-powered Audi A4 to a Tesla Model Y for a story titled Golden State Showdown (p.51). He may have also smoked some cigars and responsibly stopped in a couple of watering holes along the way. Gavin Maliska took on the task of visiting the Corvette Museum and more in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for a story titled, ‘Vette City (p.27). That was all the car content we could muster so we brought back our dear friend Nicolás Antonio Jiménez to put together a story on one of the most celebrated chefs in the South Florida fine dining scene, Michael Beltran (p.75). As usual there is so much more going on this issue including the ratings (p.57) where an unusually high number of cigars scored excellent marks this time.

Enjoy the issue with a fine smoke before the aliens land. And as always, drop us a line at feedback@cigarsnobmag.com, we love to hear from you!

Keep ‘em lit,

Erik Calviño ecalvino@cigarsnobmag.com

PRIDE OF PADUCAH After 20 years, I left the athletic training world for the ortho sales rep one, but cigars remain a part of it. I work part-time at a local cigar bar in Paducah, KY, where I live.

The Old Fashioned Cigar Bar is the name, and has a great selection of cigars and bourbon. I get to meet cigar reps, and help at events with the likes of Island Jim Robinson and Juan Lopez. My day job as an ortho rep allows for the occasional cigar excursion as well. The headquarters of the company is in Naples, FL and I take surgeons down for conferences and trainings a few times a year. I always make sure to get a table reserved at BURN and it is always a home run with the surgeons and their wives after dinner. Never disappoints.

I was reading the latest issue by the pool today, and saw the call for origin stories. My introduction may not be that different from a lot of people, but my life path has been somewhat unique, and has afforded some of the greatest memories that one can attach to cigars. I’ve been fortunate to smoke cigars in a lot of different countries, with some great people; and sometimes simply by myself on a hotel balcony, soaking in the fact that I’m in Lagos, Nigeria, or wherever, but here I am, and life is good.

I could go on and on, and have many stories, as so many people do, but I’ll leave it here for now.

Also, the origin story of Oscar Valladares in the latest issue is absolutely amazing!! I had a small idea of his start, but your piece was fascinating and enlightening. Thank you for putting such great work into your magazine. I’ve been a fan of his cigars for years, and stories like his make me like them even more now.

Keep up the great work!!

Cheers from Kentucky!

Jason C. via feedback@cigarsnobmag.com Hi Jason, We don’t know each other, but you

had us at Paducah. Shout out to Quilt City, baby! As you are well aware, we do quite a bit of traveling for our issues, and we’d love to stop by and check out the store sometime if we happen to be in the neighborhood. Of course, that is, if you’re not globetrotting yourself. The image of you enjoying a cigar in a robe (I added that) on a hotel balcony in Lagos, Nigeria, makes us quite jealous – well done.

Regarding the Oscar Valladares piece in the March/April 2023 issue, you are spot on. His accomplishments and the unconventional path he took to get there are inspiring. We sincerely hope the piece highlighted the hard work one must put in to even have a chance in this industry.

Thanks for reaching out!

RIPE FOR THE SMOKING Hello gents and thank you for the awesome magazine, articles and reviews you do. I have found some amazing cigars thanks to you.

My question is “does a cigar cure or ripen if you leave it out of a humidor for a small amount of time?” I have found in situations after buying a cigar from my local store that I leave them in the bag they give me and leave it out for a day or two at most and it seems to be some of the freshest cigars I have had.

Even after keeping cigars in a regulated humidor, sometimes they don’t seem as fresh as when I leave them out. Is there any science to it or is it just me? Thanks for the feedback! Keep on smokin!

Jared F. via feedback@cigarsnobmag.com Isn’t that something? While we can’t give you a 100% definitive answer, we believe that what is happening is that your cigars are drying out just enough to be perfect for your preference. Generally speaking, slightly dry cigars tend to combust better; they also produce less acrid flavors than overly moist cigars.

When we say slightly dry, we mean anywhere between 62 and 65 degrees. We know several cigar manufacturers who keep their personal humidors a little on the dry side. Cigars are a lot like everything else. Some people like their beer ice cold, some like it at room temperature.

Is anyone wrong?

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SURGEON GENERAL WARNING: Cigar Smoking Can Cause Cancers Of The Mouth And Throat, Even If You Do Not Inhale. ©2023 General Cigar Co., Inc

CAOCIGARS.COM

JOIN THE ADVENTURE.

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REGULATIONS FULLY VACATED FOR PREMIUM CIGARS A federal judge in August removed a determination by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that sought to regulate premium cigars as it would other tobacco products. The ruling by Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia fully removes the FDA’s 2016 rule after a previous decision that struck down the requirement that premium cigars be accompanied by health warnings on packaging and advertising.

Mehta previously stopped the FDA from implementing a pre-market review for premium cigars because he wrote “the agency failed to consider a shortened, less burdensome process for those products.”

“This is a great day for the premium cigar industry,” Scott Pearce, executive director of the Premium Cigar Association, said in a press release.

“Judge Mehta has handed down a scathing rebuke of the FDA and its rule. This underscores what we have been saying for years: premium cigars are different and should be treated as such.”

PCA was a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the FDA, along with the Cigar Association of America and Cigar Rights of America.

COHIBA OPENS ITS FIRST U.S. LOUNGE AT THE RITZ-CARLTON IN SANTA BARBARA Cohiba has opened its first U.S. lounge in the Ritz-Carlton Bacara hotel in Santa Barbara, California.

The Cohiba Experience is set against the backdrop of the hotel’s Spanish Mission architecture and offers an array of cigars including a wide selection of Cohibas.

Cohiba’s Brand Ambassador Sean Williams will host quarterly activations, to include cigar pairings, handmade cigar seminars and cigar release parties.

“Cohiba has always been a brand that elevates tradition and our partnership with the Ritz-Carlton honors this commitment,” Christopher Tarr, vice president of marketing for Scandinavian Tobacco Group which owns the Cohiba brand in the U.S., said in a press release. “By combining the utmost in ambience, indulgence and hospitality, The Cohiba Experience encourages the

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camaraderie of cigar smoking in an elegant and inclusive al fresco environment.”

The Cohiba Experience at The Bacara is open to hotel guests, club members and the public, Wednesday through Sunday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

FELIX MESA RETURNS TO EL GALAN CIGARS

cocktails in an extraordinary indoor and outdoor setting,” Elias Trahanas, co-founder of Trahanas Hospitality Group, said in a press release.

“Alongside our banquet facility, The Lannin, and our exciting new upscale restaurant, The Union, we will provide a trio of experiences under one roof that is unlike anything on Long Island.”

CAO TO SHIP V23 THIS MONTH

Felix Mesa has come back to El Galan after running Tabacalera A. Fuente’s Nicaraguan operation since 2018.

CAO introduces the CAO V23, comparing it in press copy to the GT40 MK1, the Ford hot rod that beat Ferrari at Le Mans in the 60s.

Mesa said in a press release that he leaves Fuente’s Nicaragua project with a thriving farm operation and a factory infrastructure that is ready for the next step.

“The new CAO V23 celebrates 100 years of Le Mans and the American muscle car that took the racing world by storm,” senior brand manager Ed Lahmann said in a press release. “Just as a legendary race car like the GT40 MK1 had substance and style, so does V23.”

“It has been a pleasure working with the team at Fuente for more than four years. We’ve accomplished great things in Nicaragua and I wish the company nothing but success,” Mesa said in the release.

Mesa returns to the El Galan portfolio of brands, which include El Galan, El Galan Maduro, El Galan Reserva Especial, Doña Nieves, Vegas del Purial, and Campestre.

TRAHANAS HOSPITALITY OPENS MEMBERS-ONLY CIGAR CLUB AND STEAKHOUSE IN SUBURBAN NEW YORK Trahanas Hospitality Group has opened The General, a members-only cigar club and steakhouse, in Long Island, New York.

The General is located on the second floor of an historic building, which underwent a $6.5 million renovation over the last year. The General offers red leather booths, lounge seating, a bar, private rooms, and an outdoor deck overlooking the Eisenhower Park Golf Course.

The General features a humidor with personalized Spanish cedar lockers for members. The steakhouse menu includes a porterhouse for two, bone-in ribeyes and dry-aged tomahawks.

Specialty menu items, including suckling pig, short ribs, and lobster bake, are available with a week’s notice.

A full-service bar and wine list is also available.

“The General is a premier, private club providing premium cigars, specialty steaks and signature

The 6 x 60 V23 ($13.99) features a Honduran wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and a blend of Honduran and Nicaraguan filler. It comes in a GT-inspired, 20-count box with Ford/Gulf colors and an interior that gives a nod to the GT’s tufted leather seat.

The V23 began shipping on September 1.

MOON GARDEN ‘ESPECIAL’ RELEASED Warped announces the Moon Garden Especial, a 5 5/8 x 52 Toro ($16) featuring a Nicaragua Corojo ‘99 wrapper and Nicaraguan filler and binder. It is produced at Aganorsa Leaf in Esteli.

It comes in 20-count boxes.

The Moon Garden Especial was last released five years ago.

J.C. NEWMAN CIGAR CO. LAUNCHES ONLINE FACTORY STORE J.C. Newman Cigar Co. is launching an online factory store featuring many of its most popular non-cigar items, including vintage ashtrays, El Reloj LEGO sets, posters, shirts, baseball hats and books.

“We pride ourselves on offering a unique selection of items that represent Ybor City and Tampa as a whole,” Kara Guagliardo, executive director of hospitality and community engagement, said in a press release. “In the past, people could only purchase some of our most popular items by visiting our historic factory but now, they can

MYFATHERCIGARS.COM

order an El Reloj LEGO set or Ybor Misfits coffee mug from the comfort of their home.”

INTRODUCING EXTRA-AGED TOBACCO BLEND ONYX VINTAGE NICARAGUA Altadis U.S.A. will release the Onyx Vintage Nicaragua in September. It will come in a 5 x 50 Robusto ($9.60), a 6 x 54 Toro ($10) and a 6 x 60 Magnum ($10.75) and is packaged in 20-count boxes painted matte black with copper branding.

The Onyx Vintage Nicaragua is a Nicaraguan puro, featuring an extra-aged Habano Nicaragua wrapper sourced from a 2019 harvest.

The Onyx Vintage Nicaragua is a follow-up to the Onyx Bold Nicaragua which is also produced at the AJ Fernandez factory, and the Onyx Reserve made by the Grupo De Maestros of the Tabacalera De Garcia factory in the Dominican Republic.

GURKHA CIGARS DISCONTINUES SAN MIGUEL AND TREINTA Gurkha Cigar Group International will no longer produce the San Miguel and Treinta products in order to make room in the portfolio for further growth.

Each product will continue to be sold as current inventory is available. Also, the products will continue to be offered, for the time being, through the toro sampler packs such as the Boutique (green colored) baggie. These will be offered until current inventory is sold out.

“We fully recognize that shelf space is real estate in our industry. In order to continue to offer new and improved products, we have made the tough decision to discontinue a couple of the old ones,” Juan Lopez, vice president of sales at Gurkha, said in a press release.

RED ANCHOR LINE EXTENSIONS AVAILABLE United Cigars is shipping its latest cigar line extensions, Red Anchor Captain and Gunner. The 5 x 50 Captain and 6.5 x 43 Gunner (each $20) are packed in boxes of 25 and feature a Habano 2000 Ecuador wrapper with Dominican and U.S. tobaccos.

“We are thrilled to introduce both the Captain and the Gunner as the newest additions to our Red Anchor family,” Oliver Nivaud, United’s di-

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rector of operations, said in a press release. “We are confident that cigar enthusiasts worldwide will savor the richness and elegance that defined cigars half a century ago.”

DAVIDOFF CIGARS PRESENTS THE DAVIDOFF & BOYARDE MASTERPIECE HUMIDOR COLLECTION Davidoff Cigars announces its collaboration with British pop art artist Boyarde Messenger to create a Masterpiece humidor collection of its Dome humidor, with each of the five pieces displaying artwork by Boyarde. All humidors come with specially crafted cigars, which are unique to each piece.

Boyarde painted her graphic on the surface over a period of five months for each humidor, and applied up to 40 layers of paint to ensure its resilience.

The Davidoff & Boyarde Masterpiece Humidor Collection is available in five locations worldwide, with launch dates varying by country.

QUALITY IMPORTERS HAS LAUNCHED THE XIKAR X-CLUSIVE SERIES OF LUXURY CIGAR CUTTERS, DEVELOPED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH JEWELER JACOB & CO. The collection features constellation and geometric designs, with hand-applied enamel finishes in various hues on a body of sterling silver with a suggested retail price of $16,000.

Designs can be customized to feature gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, or any other precious materials. The constellation cutters are available in blue or black enamel finishes, accentuating the constellations with sterling silver details.

Meanwhile, the geometric cutter design offers two options—a solid sterling silver finish with the illusion of dimension or a geometric hombre design transitioning from yellow to burgundy with an enamel finish.

Also part of the XIKAR X-clusive series is the Dueling Dragons Chasing Flaming Pearl Cigar Cutter. With an MSRP of $160,000, this cutter features an 18K gold body and blade handles set by hand with 1,940 22.50-carat red rubies. The handles, which hold the precision steel blades, showcase two ruby-eyed 18K yellow gold dragons with arms outstretched to clutch a large flame-

engulfed pearl at the apex of the cutter.

Quality Importers provides interested individuals a private showing of the XIKAR X-clusive series or a tour of its Florida offices. For inquiries visit www.qualityimporters.com.

VIAJE RELEASES PART TWO OF ITS ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION Viaje Cigar Co. is releasing part two of its 15th anniversary celebration, a jar with three cigars in it. There are three versions of the jar; Silver, Gold and Black, with three blends, all Aganorsa leaf rolled at Aganorsa. Each 6 x 54 Perfecto blend features a Criollo 98 wrapper from Jalapa. All cigars were allowed to age eight months after rolling was completed.

Shipping begins in September. All three versions have an MSRP of $19.99.

Quality Importers Announces the Launch Of Four New Xikar X-clusive Luxury Cigar Cutters

LA AURORA ANNOUNCES DISTRIBUTION PARTNERSHIP WITH ARANGO CIGAR La Aurora, USA will partner with Arango Cigar Co. for a portion of its U.S. distribution. Arango has brought in a full line of La Aurora cigars to grow the north central territory.

“With La Aurora having account representation in the southern region, it was important to establish a partnership in the central region with a like-minded group of individuals founded in family,” Ed McKenna, CEO of La Aurora, said in a press release.

La Aurora, USA was launched April 1 as the brand’s new distribution company, representing the manufacturer for the U.S. market.

Arango brings to La Aurora nine decades of experience in the tobacco industry. Arango President Mike Gold serves on the PCA Board and is active in working on the industry’s political issues.

“We’re excited about the renewed energy and focus on building the legacy of the La Aurora brand in the U.S. market,” Gold said in a press release.

“At Arango, we don’t measure our success by the number of customers we have, but rather by the number of customers we keep. We are excited to be distributing a brand that is led by family business-oriented people who understand and practice this philosophy as well.”

Rabbit Hole Boxergrail Diesel Whiskey Row Boxergrail In a spirits industry that is enamored with celebrity brands, Rabbit Hole Distillery stands apart as an original and genuine attempt at quality and differentiation without the extra fluff.

The brand was started in 2012 by Kaveh Zamanian, a clinical psychologist with a passion for spirits encouraged by his native-Kentuckian wife Heather. The name Rabbit Hole comes from his wife’s comments every time he’d take the family to visit another distillery. “You’re taking the family down the rabbit hole,” she’d say. On a video interview posted on the company’s YouTube channel, Kaveh explains to his wife (the interviewer), “You were expressing concern for taking the family down this rabbit hole and I was thinking, ‘what a great name.’”

Kaveh’s idea was to establish a distillery with unique whiskey recipes as opposed to sourcing whiskey and slapping a pretty label on it. He went for a modern and experimental approach inspired by the craft beer industry by employing high quality grains from different providers and coming up with mash bills that appealed to him as the end consumer. The experimentation extended to barrel selection and toasting methods, and in the case of the Dareringer expression, Rabbit Hole finished its bourbon in PX sherry casks, a la Scotch.

The distillery’s pursuit of quality and originality were rewarded in 2019 when spirits giant Pernod Ricard entered into a strategic partnership with Rabbit Hole, boosting the distillery’s position in the American whiskey space while freeing up Zamanian and his team to focus on the distillery’s day to day operations and product development.

TASTING NOTES On the nose the Rabbit Hole Boxergrail is loaded with brown sugar, vanilla, and oak spice. The palate is medium bodied and departs from the nose with more prominent wood, citrus, and cocoa accompanied by a touch of tobacco in the background.

The whiskey is distinct as promised, unlike almost any other rye we’ve tasted, in a good way.

THE PAIRING The Diesel Whiskey Row Boxergrail is an ultra-flavorful cigar delivering tons of dark chocolate, smooth pepper, oak, and a rich caramel sweetness on the finish. The best way we found to enjoy this combo was to sandwich the whiskey between puffs of the Diesel. Puff and enjoy the smoke, take a small sip of the whiskey and let it go down enjoying the first half of the pairing, then take multiple puffs of the cigar noting the change as the whiskey dissipates. The whiskey’s hidden tobacco note emerges to the forefront and combines with a rich caramel sweetness and zesty rye spice.

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LOCATION: TABACON CIGARS AND SPIRITS tabaconlounge.com

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Writers’ Tears Copper Pot Joya de Nicaragua Antaño CT At the apex of Irish whiskey’s dominance in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Emerald Isle’s chief export could be found in the most far-flung corners of the world.

“I was surprised when I looked at the export records from the 1860s and 70s and I saw sales to Brazil, Mauritius, Panama, Honduras, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada,” Carol Quinn, the archivist for Irish Distillers, said in a 2019 interview with The Irish Times. I don’t think there was another product from Ireland at that time that had such a worldwide reach, and it wasn’t being sold cheaply in shebeens or taverns. It was an expensive product for the connoisseur.”

During roughly that same time, Irish novelists, poets, and playwrights like George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, and Bram Stoker were making profound waves in the literary world. Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923 and Shaw in 1925. These transcendental writers would often find solace from their hardships and inspiration for their writings in their local public house or tavern.

It was Oscar Wilde who famously wrote what is perhaps the cleverest and most thought-provoking line about drinking, “Work is the curse of the drinking class.”

It’s from this time of world-class whiskey, geo-political struggles, and profound writings that Walsh Whiskey took inspiration for Writers’ Tears. The whiskey is produced in the uniquely Irish style of triple-distilling malted and unmalted barley and aging it in charred ex-bourbon barrels. The result is a whiskey that has brought home numerous accolades including winning gold twice at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition as well as winning gold three times in the International Spirits Challenge.

TASTING NOTES The whiskey has a beautiful golden color in the glass and delivers an enticing nose of spiced apple, biscuit, honey, and a touch of vanilla. The mouthfeel is crisp and light with rounded flavors of honey, tropical fruit, soft spices and oak.

It is elegant and ultra-smooth, making it easy to enjoy neat or with just a splash of spring water.

THE PAIRING Be mindful of the whiskey’s light and delicate nature when choosing the cigar. Overly earthy and peppery cigars will likely overwhelm the Writers’ Tears. We recommend the balanced but flavorful Joya de Nicaragua Antaño CT. The cigar’s core of cedar, lightly roasted nuts, and vanilla cream over a subtle base of earth bring out a decadent, rich vanilla cream in the whiskey while the whiskey’s oaky finish has a mouth-watering effect that adds a different dimension to the smoke.

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LOCATION: TABACON CIGARS AND SPIRITS tabaconlounge.com

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BY GAVIN MALISKA

o the uninitiated, they may look the same, this fleet of seven Chevrolet Corvettes cruising at 70 mph in a line, staying to the right except when snaking around traffic on this southbound stretch of Interstate Highway 165 toward their destination, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

But each of the sportsters is distinct, made so by differences in color, interior, model year, tailpipes and vents. The classic, fish-inspired Corvette body today has a European look with scoops and vents that carry fresh air to the engine where it’s mixed with gasoline, sprayed into cylinders and sparked to create more horsepower than any driver will ever need.This gathering of machines is aimed for Bowling Green like salmon heading upriver, back to their birthplace, the 1.7 million square foot General Motors Assembly Plant, where 1.1 million Corvettes have been built since 1981. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the first Corvette, and Vettes across the country are coming home to Kentucky.

Across the highway from the plant

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sits the National Corvette Museum, which houses Corvettes from every model year since the model's debut in 1953.

Across the street from the museum is the 419-acre NCM Motorsports Park, a track where Corvette enthusiasts can bring their car to put it through the paces, or owners can get some driving tips from resident pros.

"Driving to Bowling Green in a German luxury SUV made for a nice ride but may not have been the best way to visit Vette City, or so said the security guard at the GM Assembly Plant."

Corvette drivers are what you’d expect from motorists driving a class of car famous for coolness and pride of ownership.With an average age of 61, the drivers are a decade older than the average Porsche 911 owner. The Vette's interior, including

the width of the bucket seats and the leg room between the pedals and the seat back,dictates the driver should be a person of average height or shorter, and somewhat fit. Corvette drivers share the ability to afford a car that adroitly blends style and speed, with a healthy dash of luxury.

Base models of the Stingray start in the mid-$60,000 range, and the 2023 Z06 Corvette is born north of $100,000.

In the summer months, devoted Corvette owners gather in Bowling Green to visit the factory and museum and meet their fellow brand acolytes.

They spread throughout the town, standing around Vettes with their hoods up and doors open, sitting in a hotel parking deck, on the lot outside the museum, or in one of the many parking spots around the museum designated “Corvettes Only.”

Although some call it Vette City, Bowling Green and its 75,000 residents are more than a sports car.

Kentucky’s third-largest city, after Louisville and Lexington, is home to Western Kentucky University, with 16,500 students attending the wooded hillside campus each year.

An aerial view of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

The student population is big enough to make Bowling Green a typical, if sleepy mid-south college town.

The GM plant has for decades been an anchor for the town, with 1,400 employees and providing the name for the local minor league baseball team, the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

The town is also basking in the glow of the future, as the Envision AESC electric battery plant broke ground last year and is expected to bring in 2,000 jobs. That an EV battery plant will be bigger than the factory where Corvettes are assembled is an ironic sign of the times. GM President Mark Reuss announced last year that an electric Corvette is in the works.

Bowling Green is set among rolling hills of dark green grass in rich soil lying above limestone. The grass nourishes the horses that graze inside pastures edged by wooden fences and race at fabled Kentucky tracks like Churchill Downs and Keeneland. The limestone filters the water pumped into distilleries to make

All images courtesy of The National Corvette Museum.

America’s most famous bourbons.

And Kentucky tobacco, until recently the state’s largest agricultural product, is fire-cured and dry-cured and used to make cigars for Avanti and Drew Estate.

Driving to Bowling Green in a German luxury SUV made for a nice ride but may not have been the best way to visit Vette City, or so said the security guard at the GM Assembly Plant.

He shook his head and muttered something about “a foreign job” before assigning me to a parking lot farthest from the massive plant’s entrance for the mile-long tour. He said I would surely be ticketed if I dared park within view of tourists leaving the plant.

They are offered the option of paying a little extra to travel to Bowling Green and take delivery on “The Boulevard” inside the National Corvette Museum.

On appointment, their Vette is parked in a spot alongside a plaque congratulating the owner. Corvette technicians spend time with the new owner going over the features of the car. Ten new Corvette owners each day are introduced to their cars this way.

In mid-August, Regine Korn of Naples, Florida, sat inside her new 2023

Korn, whose previous cars were an Audi 5 convertible and a Mercedes S500 convertible.“It makes a genuine impression. It’s perfection, that’s what I would say.”

with red interior and a black top. Only two options were available in the first year: you could decide if you wanted to add a heater and a radio. The doors didn’t lock or even have windows.

Korn was advised not to test the top end of the car during the first 500 miles, but said she likes how it handles in the heavy rains of southwest Florida and features that allow her to hear the car’s sound system and keep her hair from being blown around when the top’s down.

While Chevrolet designers and engineers were excited by the car, sales were disappointing. General Motors considered shelving the Corvette until in 1955 engineers gave it more power by installing a small-block V8. The larger, faster engine forever united the ideas that Corvettes should be sleek, fun, and powerful.

Roger Holt has worked as a docent at the Corvette museum for less than a year but has been around Corvettes since his older brother bought one in 1968. Five years later, Holt bought his first, a 1965 coup with the famed 327 engine. He’s still got it, although on the day of our meeting it was in the garage in need of brakes. In its place, he drives a black 2000 LS1 coupe.

That’s about the same time that engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov started lending his ideas to the car, developing ways to get more horsepower or at least make the car look like it. Through years spent working on the car, he came to be called the “Godfather of the Corvette,” and was so dedicated that an urn carrying his ashes, and another of his wife, Elfi, are on display at the museum.

The plant runs two shifts five days a week, with 94 cars coming off the line each shift, an average of 11 an hour and 188 a day. Bowling Green is an assembly plant, so the parts are made elsewhere and brought to the facility two or three days before they’re needed on the line.

The cars crawl through the plant on a slow-moving conveyor, as the basic parts of the chassis and the body are filled with other parts that form a car.

Paint is applied via robotic arms while seat belts, windshields and wheels are attached by the line workers.

In the engine shop, a single worker builds a single engine over a 3.5-hour period, ending the job by stamping his signature on the block.

The final inspection of each car coming off the line is performed by auto workers, who jump into cars moving on the assembly line, try switches for all the lights, start the engine, then drive the car slowly for 20 or so feet over some large speed bumps to check the shocks and steering.

The cars each have 800 gallons of water dumped on them to check for leaks and are driven around a quarter-mile test track with every switch flipped and knob turned. A few cars are randomly taken every day and driven around Bowling Green by drivers trained in how Corvettes are supposed to handle and sound. Any car that doesn’t meet all standards is sent back to the factory for repairs or replacement.

Corvette buyers wait for up to 18 months to take delivery of a new car.

One of the original 1953 Corvettes is displayed with half its body removed. ceramic matrix gray convertible as friends and relatives stood nearby.

Her son-in-law, Peter Rose, said he had ordered the car for himself through a Naples dealership in September of 2021. When the car was ready, he said, his needs had changed. Korn stepped up to say she wanted it.

“She’s so excited,” Rose said. “She hasn’t slept in four days.”

“You know it’s my first Corvette,” said

“There’s a status to them,” he said.

“There’s a cool factor…"

The museum is a non-profit organization opened in 1994. Vette fans can check out the first Vette, one of 300 built in 1953, all of them white

“He always made everything better and faster,” Holt said.

The museum features every Corvette breakthrough since 1953, some of which never made it to market, like

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the 1965 XP819 with an experimental rear engine. Visitors can check out the 1961 Mako Shark created after designer Bill Mitchell landed one on a fishing trip, and the 2019 C7 2RI that reached 219 mph, faster than NASCAR and about the same speed as open-wheeled race cars at the Indianapolis 500.

The early Corvettes were manual transmission only, with a three-speed introduced in 1956 and a four-speed the following year. That feature is unavailable now, and for good reason, Holt said.

“Sure, there’s something satisfying about putting that stick in gear, but manual transmission would only slow them down,” he said.

The museum may be best known for the sinkhole that formed overnight in the museum’s rotunda in February 2014. The eight Corvettes it swallowed were pulled out and restored and are now part of a display recalling the moment. Windows on two steel panels in the floor allow visitors to look down to the bottom of what was the sinkhole.

The museum includes a 2024 E-Ray, the first hybrid Corvette with electric motors on all four wheels and an LT2 V8 engine. Working together, they produce 655 horsepower and torque that can slam the car from zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds, the quickest Corvette ever. In “stealth mode,” the E-Ray can cruise on its electric motors for short trips.

And while it would be illogical to imagine Corvette designers and engineers not wanting to equip an experimental model with four electric motors and a floor full of batteries, Holt shook his head at the idea of a fully electric Corvette.

“They spent so much money and time perfecting that sound,” he said of the Vette engine’s rumble.

Visitors to Bowling Green will find

From top to bottom: Inside the rotunda, racing Corvettes are featured, like No. 38, a 1963 Corvette with the famous split rear window; The museum made headlines on Feb. 12, 2014, when people arriving for work found a sinkhole had formed in the rotunda, swallowing eight Corvettes.

Corvettes sprinkled everywhere around town, some parked in spots around ornate Fountain Square Park, among the shops, bars and restaurants. Spenser’s is a mainstay for coffee and baked goods, attracting students and townies to its renovated building of wooden floors and brick walls.

There are plenty of opportunities to treat yourself at the Meltdown Ice Cream and Soda Fountain and Insomnia Cookies. For something more serious, the square offers Cliffs of Moher Irish Pub for beer, cocktails, and live music some evenings, or The Dusty Boot, Gerard’s 1907 Tavern, Dublin’s Irish Pub, and the Copper Bar. Toward the college, you can hit Hilligans Sports Bar & Grill for beer, wings, and pizza.

Cocktails and dinner can be found on the square at 440 Main, for seafood, steaks and Cajun cooking, or next door at Micki’s on Main for the same

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fare in a more casual environment.

A few blocks away, Hickory & Oak offers a solid selection of bourbons, great steaks, seafood, and pork tenderloin, along with some oddities like Nordic elk. Or you can dine in a restored 1893 house at The Bistro, offering Italian American fare and martinis.

Anna’s, a Greek restaurant, is inside what was the Victory Baptist Church.

The 115-year-old building had been vacant for 10 years before Anna and Vilson Qejaha purchased it and spent the next five years restoring it and converting it into a restaurant. It offers Mediterranean food created by Anna, a chef who owned a restaurant in Kamari, Greece, before coming to the U.S. The huge stained glass windows behind the bar and the chandelier hanging from the dome over the main room create a unique dining environment.

A number of hotels can be found along the interstates on all sides of the city, including some motor inns built in the 60’s. The Hyatt Place Bowling Green in the College Hill Historic District is conveniently located, well-equipped and well-run. The Kentucky Grand Hotel is a recent addition with the restoration of a building close to Fountain Square converted into eight suites.

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Tobacco has a history in Bowling Green, seen in the faded lettering across a converted warehouse on the edge of town, now a location for weddings and parties, advertising Scott Tobacco Co. and its products, the Mammoth Cave Sweet Twist and Clover Bloom. Thompson advertised on postcards as “A Chew For Every Taste.” It was also smoked in a pipe and advertised for medicinal purposes and sacred blessings.

Smokers who would rather have a premium cigar can head to Bowling Green Pipe & Cigar on Fountain Square, in business for 50 years and purchased 15 years ago by Andrew Cole and Chris Abend. In midsummer, the shop is cool with dark wood providing a feel of history, a large walk-in humidor built across a wall at the front and a bar in the back, with stools and an array of Kentucky bourbons.

“We’re the only place in town where

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you can legally smoke and drink,” Cole said, adding the top sellers in the humidor are Padrón and Arturo Fuente. The constant flow of Corvettes into Bowling Green is good for business. “It brings people to town, and a lot of people who drive Corvettes seem to be cigar smokers,” he said.

Two Bowling Green regulars, Kevin Waldron and Ralph Beck, sat around a table under the awning in front of the cigar shop, exuding an aloof cool and enjoying an afternoon cigar while watching a restaurant down the block being readied for the dinner crowd. Asked if they owned Vettes, Waldron said his daughters told him he wasn’t old enough yet. Beck drew on his Padrón and said he had one on order but wasn’t sure if he’d take delivery.

Mark McGehan retired after a career with General Motors, his last years working as operations manager at the Bowling Green plant. He’s the proud owner of a 2023 2LT Stingray convertible and active member of Corvettes Limited Bowling Green.

McGehan’s first Corvette was a 1972

model that he bought used, and he’s owned a number of Vettes since then.

“Let’s round it off at probably 10,” he said. He had started working in a Corvette racing shop as a go-fer at age 11, and learned auto mechanics throughout his teen years until he joined a racing crew.

The active Bowling Green club can bring out 80 members for drives and events. A cruise on a summer day to

a town a distance away may result in a line of 30 to 40 Corvettes running down the road.

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“It’s a blast,” McGehan said. “This car is absolutely incredible. The handling, the ride, the performance of the car is amazing.… Corvette’s popularity stems from Americans’ love for the automobile. And the Corvette is the longest-standing American sports car.”

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Photo: Gavin Maliska

From top to bottom: A 1961 Corvette inside the mockup of a Mobil station; Andrew Cole at the humidor in Bowling Green Pipe and Tobacco.

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golden state

showdown

California’s undeniable natural beauty is a playground for driving and a gift to our four-wheeled friends. The treasures lie in the backcountry of the deserts of the southern lowlands and mountain ranges of the Sierras, but the paths that run among them, including paved state and federal highways, are also ripe for pleasure. We took advantage of the perfect summer

Images courtesy of Tesla, Inc. and Audi Communications

weather and drove some of these roads and are here to tell the tale of two cars, one steeped in tradition and the other based on an emerging, albeit small, enthusiasm for something fresh. We leave you as always to draw your own conclusion.

BY STEVE MILLER

Image credit: Audi Communications

The Audi A4 is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that can reach 60mph in under 5 seconds.

nce you’ve rolled through the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California, your head dancing with the history of the man who created the Peanuts cartoon, you need something less cerebral.

Like a drive through the hills of Napa Valley in a German luxury vehicle.

But first, the museum is a three-hour immersion into the world of Peanuts, filled with cartoon panels and the colors and writings of childhood.

It’s no accident that most of the patrons on a Wednesday morning are adults; Schulz produced insights in a way that appealed on many levels.

The displays tell the story of the man from Minnesota who developed his first Peanuts characters in 1950 – Charlie Brown, Patty and Shermy – and created animated history via 18,000 original panels.

Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the BMW 3-Series, both classics. The reason is simple; its peers are masters of engineering with a solid performance record.

To make a trek to our next stop in Sacramento, we can go the easy way or the fun way.

We elect for fun, and with the keys to a 2023 Audi A4 we’re going to head through the winding hills of the lower Napa Valley, with wineries set behind ribbons of vines and olive groves popping out every few miles.

The A4 has for years taken a back seat to its German mid-sized luxury counterparts, the

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The Vaca Mountains only hit 2,800 feet at their highest, but the hilly variance is profound and the car performs like a champ. As the twists get more intense, we use the paddle shifters – the novice’s manual transmission – to maneuver.

The turbocharged 2.0-liter engine never groans, it just responds, and the 19-inch wheels hold the glassy roads.

There is plenty of room in the U.S. market for Audi, and the A4 is a shining beacon to those who want something different. The A4 feels smaller and for that reason, the turning is smoother as the carriage is lower to the ground.

Aesthetically, the A4 vibes Bauhaus, and we don’t mean "Bela Lugosi’s Dead". The angles are sharp both front and rear, and the LED lights are standard and agile, adapting to curves.

We roll around creeks, trailheads, boat launches and bridges, the mountainous greens merging with the aqua sky and waters to create a splendid burst of colors. The trouble is stopping; the snaking, often narrow roads provide little room to pull off without planning, and there is no planning on these roads, just pure reacting.

The start of the trek heads north into the hills and the land of the fabled Napa Valley. We hit Pope Valley, an arid, low countryside, and head into the hills twisting toward the Vaca Mountains and Lake Berryessa, a 32-square-mile body of azure. The luminous landscape leaves behind the parched browns and delivers vivid greens

The magnitude of his empire is welldescribed; the TV shows, the books and, most spectacularly, the merch.

The museum grounds feature an ice rink, with open skating, hockey and figure skating. Schulz never left Minnesota and was an active skater most of his life. The visit concludes with a visit to the Warm Puppy Café – yeah, I know, but we didn’t name it – and a lunch of Schulz’s favorite, tuna on wheat with lettuce and tomato.

along with the ice blue waters.

The Vaca Mountain range is the protection for the fine wine that flows from Napa Valley, formed by the San Andreas Fault’s creation and offering protection to the valley from the desert

heat of the Central Valley, or the upper reaches of California’s desert.

It takes around 90 minutes to drive those 50 miles from Santa Rosa around the lake before it turns into a more routine road on the way back to Sacramento.

While the region is rich in flavors – wine, olive oil, fruit orchards – it is slim in cigar pickings, reflective of a state that has led the pack in demonizing tobacco.

Our friend Eric Smaldino is a remedy to that misplaced action. Smaldino came to the state from Wyoming and co-founded Napa Cigars in 2014, situated in downtown Napa. The lounge offers a full-scale bar, one of a dozen or so places in the state where you can have a cigar with a bourbon.

“Everyone wants to come to Napa,” Smaldino says, accounting for a line of cigar celebs that 5

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Image credit: Harvest Inn Napa Valley

Image credit: Charles M Schulz Museum and Research Center

Clockwise from top: The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa; Harvest Inn Napa; The bar at Napa Cigars; Newton Vineyard St. Helena.

Image credit: Visit California/David Collier

pancakes, sausage – but is delivered in extra sizes. The linguica – a Brazilian seasoned pork sausage – is excellent and the cinnamon roll is as big as a plate. A Rodeo breakfast burrito will feed a starving family of four. And the place has friendly in abundance.

Most of us have driven or ridden in a Tesla by now, the iPad-like infotainment display a charming little toy and the silent acceleration a curious novelty.

He draws the majority of his clientele, around 60 percent, from the visitor trade, “but the locals are no slouch.”

Harvest Inn since 2020 hosts a classic car drive, “Open to vintage sports cars of significant makes, with a focus on motorcars built prior to 1972,” the invite reads, with a five-day stay at the Inn, routing through Northern California, providing support for the aged classic cars.

We stick with the new cars and have driven the A4 for years; Audi wisely makes some available as fleet cars so when you elect to rent luxury, there is often a profusion of selections from the Audi catalog. The brand is also generous with drives, giving journalists a feel for the brand. The A4 has remained a good choice for someone not as enamored with the deserved hype of BMW or the passive drive of a Mercedes. With the A4, you get a nimble drive and design much more in line with what one would think as classically German. The downside is the limited space and what tends to be a shorter life – an Audi of any stripe at 75,000 miles shows its wear, while

others are just hitting their stride. This makes it ripe for a lease.

The future of the A4 is confusing. Audi CEO Markus Duesmann, who was replaced in June, told the German magazine Auto Bild in March that the A4 would eventually go all-electric along with the rest of Audi’s vehicles.

We don’t like the sound of that.

And we also don’t like the drive. Electric cars are where some politicians want to put you, over the protests of car executives on down to the majority of motorists. And the golf cart cruise you get ensures there will be limited driving fun.

The Tesla Y is the brand’s stab at a compact SUV, with plenty of storage under the rear hatch and a larger back seat. The Tesla X, a full-sized SUV, delivers even more room.

The Y has sold well for an electric model, with a range of roughly 300 miles, which is about average for a Tesla. They can say 330 miles all they want, but mitigating factors including the weather, speed, and terrain all impact range just as they do miles per gallon in a fuel-propelled vehicle. Don’t buy the hype or the word of

We leave Clovis for Shaver Lake about 5,500 feet up in the Sierra National Forest with a full charge, which is plenty for the 90-mile round trip.

The Tesla performs admirably as we manage the sometimes-tricky switchbacks and blind curves on the route up. As we did with the Audi, we push the speed to check the handling on the curves and the Tesla keeps up. Using electric power means a more rapid response, but rather than show off the Tesla’s mobility, it makes us appreciate that the Audi did the same thing with a fuel-driven engine, with the soundtrack of gears as a bonus.

Braking in an EV means backing off the accelerator and letting the engine naturally slow, which is advantageous on curvy terrain but unnatural in city driving – as with the overall electric driving experience, it takes away some of the pleasure of driving.

We have the rear-wheel drive, and the Y also comes in a preferable all-wheel model. We didn’t detect any of the wobbliness that rear drive can create and took it up to 80 mph.

But when our friend Malcolm offered his 2022 Tesla Y for a cruise from Clovis, California, into the Sierras, it was a grateful ‘yes.’ We’d driven a finely honed fossil fuel loving machine for a bit. Let’s just try the other side, this time starting in the lower deserts of the state.

Summer temperatures crest 100 every day in Clovis – hell for those who don’t dig the heat, heaven for lizards like us.

First, a breakfast place for the ages. We don’t eat a big breakfast as a rule, but the 1 Rodeo Coffee Shop in the Clovis downtown is a trough that is worth a violation. The standard artery-clogging fun is in full effect – eggs,

Image credit: Napa Cigars

come to his place to do in-stores and samplings.

Napa Cigars also hosts a monthly cigar/wine dinner at Harvest Inn in nearby St. Helena, in August featuring Oliva cigars and Copper Cane wines.

electric car apologists. The latter has spent time with a flatbed or awaiting a road service charge, but doesn’t tell you.

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Cigars Mas Fino has places in Fresno and Bakersfield, the latter an especially welcoming town for independent thinkers with a taste for the finer things. The Mas Fino in Fresno features a large space, an outdoor patio, and the traditional cushy leather furniture. And 4 Perfect Blend Fine Cigars in Fresno’s busy Tower District is also a solid choice, about 15 minutes from Clovis.

The Tesla Y has a range of about 300 miles.

We give Malcolm back his Tesla and get back into the Audi. And we’re left with some motoring thoughts.

Image credit: Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

The data on the fossil-fuel propelled Audi A4 and the Tesla Y are very similar. Both are around 187 inches long, comparable in braking time at various speeds and hit various acceleration metrics at around the same speed. The Audi gets the edge on holding the curves, which is understandable, as the Y weighs almost 700 pounds more than the A4.

In the winter, we would not recommend any Tesla for this pursuit.

We come back down the hill much faster than we ascended, the Y adroitly making the curves easy and its electric engine naturally adapting to the grade change with little effort.

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We take the A4 without reservation. Driving with an internal combustion engine feels like driving, with the sound of a well-crafted, purring engine.

The electric car is stark in its transport, a silent, flavorless machine.

Clovis and its blue-collar neighbor, Fresno, are welcoming places for cigars, with several stores that provide a wide choice of something to take with you on your trek to the lake.

But we hear the future and it’s the sound of…nothing. That’s the Tesla and its lessaccomplished electric compadres noiselessly easing through our mountains and down our streets.

2 Cigars Ltd. has been in the area since 1992, and has locations in Clovis and Fresno, both highlighted by sizable humidors. 3

Part of main street is a statue of Ken Curtis, Festus from the 60s TV western “Gunsmoke,”

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Shaver Lake is doable though, and it takes about an hour to reach, an evergreen-laden village that includes a cool, clear three square miles of water. The area is a summer oasis for people seeking refuge from the heat below, with temps averaging around 80 degrees in the summer. Boating, swimming, horseback riding, camping, fishing – Shaver has it all. We’re more curious about the winter, when all hell breaks loose. Snow flies, tire chains come out and roads become impassable. Which is alluring in an Overlook Hotel way, so we checked – about $2K for a week in January in a vast cabin 20 miles from China Peak Mountain Resort, a ski area about 3,000 more feet up.

who made his home in Clovis after his acting success. We’ve seen the statues of Stevie Ray Vaughn in Austin, Johnny Ramone at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and Jimi Hendrix in Seattle.

But this one is much weirder and therefore more appreciated.

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It’s not a bad idea, as you will be waiting around a lot as a Tesla owner. A routine charge can mean a long line at the charging station. Worse, “we are seeing a shocking number of calls from people at charging stations because the charging station doesn’t work,” Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering for the American Automobile Association, better known as emergency roadside provider AAA, told us earlier this year.

We’re in time for the Old Town Clovis Farmers Market, a prospect that is generally a no-go. But it’s 105 degrees out and we’re curious how hearty the turnout is for this desert street fair. It’s impressive, as these locals are unafraid of the sunny elements and food trucks and vendors come at us with everything from roasted corn, some of the reddest strawberries we’ve ever seen, and a rare appearance of mulberries, a sweet fruit that looks like blackberries.

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While the Y isn’t a luxury car, there are some features, like the tinted all-glass roof, the 19-inch wheels, the heated power mirrors and power liftgate that give it some edge in the standard SUV class. The standard tech package also includes video games along with Hulu, Netflix and YouTube apps.

Our cars gave us the gift of movement in both journeys, and while there will for some time be a debate over this so-called conversion to a carbonfree world, we’re happy to have a choice, for now.

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48 CIGARS

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$ 8.50

89 58 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

N I CA R AG UA

VITOLA: Churchill LENGTH: 7 RING: 50 WRAPPER: USA/Connecticut BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

N I CA R AG UA A well-constructed Churchill covered with a dark brown wrapper with a coarse feel. Delivers an earthy core complemented by notes of smooth pepper, oak, and a touch of sweet ripe fruit on the finish. Medium plus strength.

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 59

GRAN TORO HVC Hot Cake

$ 11.40

91

VITOLA: Gran Cañon LENGTH: 6 RING: 60 WRAPPER: Mexico BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

CAO Flathead

Ultra-smooth and impeccably constructed, this medium strength gran toro is covered with a dark, toothy wrapper with a coarse feel. Consistently produces an excellent smoke output with notes of cedar, toasted almonds, and soft pepper with a touch of earthiness.

$ 10.99

91

VITOLA: V660 Carb LENGTH: 6 RING: 60 WRAPPER: USA/Connecticut BINDER: Ecuador FILLER: Nicaragua

AVO Syncro South America Ritmo

90

H O N D UR AS Peculiarly shaped, this large, box-pressed blend is covered with a slightly mottled, reddish brown wrapper and finished with a flat head.

This medium to full strength gran toro provides an open draw with flavors of sweet earth and spice accompanied by a touch of vanilla cream.

$ 1 4.60 VITOLA: Special Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 60 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Mexico FILLER: Brazil, Peru, Honduras & Nicaragua

JFR Lunatic Maduro

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C Box-pressed and finished with a clean, reddish brown wrapper. This medium strength blend provides an open draw and a wavy burn while producing a core of wood, pepper, and hazelnut along with a touch of honey.

$ 9.99

90

VITOLA: La Loma LENGTH: 6 1/2 RING: 60 WRAPPER: Mexico BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Asylum 13

N I CA R AG UA Covered with a dark, toothy wrapper with excellent oils and topped with tight pigtail. Consistently well-constructed providing an excellent draw and burn with a medium plus strength output with notes of cedar, sweet pepper, and earth joined by a touch of ripe fruit.

$ 8.60

89

VITOLA: Sixty LENGTH: 6 RING: 60 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Cavalier Genève Tres Delincuentes Maduro

89 60 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

N I CA R AG UA

VITOLA: Gordo LENGTH: 6 1/4 RING: 60 WRAPPER: Mexico BINDER: Ecuador FILLER: Honduras, Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

N I CA R AG UA A thick and dark gran toro covered with an oily, toothy wrapper showing prominent veins. Delivers an earthy core complemented by notes of black pepper, bittersweet cocoa, and a hint of cream along a firm draw leaving behind a solid ash.

$ 7.90

H O N D UR AS Earthy and smooth, this well-made gran toro is covered with a clean, dark brown wrapper.

Draws well and leaves behind a solid, compact ash while delivering a medium strength smoke output with complementary notes of roasted nuts and bittersweet cocoa.

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 61

TORO Don Pepín García Series JJ

92

$ 13.00 VITOLA: Sublime LENGTH: 6 RING: 54 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Aganorsa Leaf Aniversario Connecticut

91

VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 1/4 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Villiger Miami

Ultra-flavorful and well-balanced with a creamy profile of roasted nuts, caramel, and smooth pepper accompanied by an interesting touch of nougat on the back end. Draws and burns flawlessly while producing tons of medium plus strength smoke.

$ 15.50

N I CA R AG UA Solidly built and flawlessly box-pressed with a clean, light brown wrapper with a supple feel.

Provides an excellent draw and burn with an output of thick, medium plus strength smoke and a core of cedar, toasted cashews, and cinnamon balanced by smooth pepper.

$ 1 7.00

91

VITOLA: Cañonazo LENGTH: 5 7/8 RING: 53 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Dominican Republic FILLER: Dominican Republic

Oscar Valladares Heaven & Hell Claro

90

VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Honduras BINDER: Mexico FILLER: Honduras

Romeo y Julieta 1875 Nicaragua

90

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C Covered with a beautiful, supple wrapper finished with a neat, triple cap. Delivers a medium strength profile highlighted by notes of cedar, soft spice, and fresh-cut grass accompanied by a touch of creamy vanilla on the finish.

$ 10.00

H O N D UR AS Consistently well-constructed and covered with a clean, supple wrapper, this medium bodied toro draws and burns perfectly while producing an excellent smoke output with notes of cedar and salted nuts along a smooth background of sweet earth and light pepper.

$ 8.8 8 VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 50 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Espinosa Crema

N I CA R AG UA A flavorful, creamy blend with a core of cedar, roasted nuts, and smooth pepper and a touch of minty sweetness on the finish. Draws and burns evenly while producing an excellent output of thick, aromatic smoke.

$ 10.85

89 62 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

N I CA R AG UA

VITOLA: No. 5 LENGTH: 6 RING: 56 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

N I CA R AG UA A mild to medium strength toro with a core of black pepper, wood, and nuts complemented by a touch of cream on the finish. This well-made blend produces a light smoke output along an easy draw and a wavy burn leaving behind a dark gray ash.

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 63

TORO La Aroma de Cuba Reserva

93

$ 11.85 VITOLA: Divino LENGTH: 6 1/4 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Mexico BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Davidoff Yamasa

A flawlessly pressed blend with a balanced and complex flavor profile highlighted by notes of cinnamon, roasted nuts, cocoa powder, and smooth pepper all held together by a rich creaminess. This medium strength blend leaves behind a solid, compact ash.

$ 22.70

92

VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Dominican Republic BINDER: Nicaragua & Dominican Republic FILLER: Dominican Republic

Flor de las Antillas

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C Delivers a balanced and complex combination of cedar, toasted almonds, and black tea accompanied by a rich caramel flavor and a creamy texture. This impeccably constructed blend is covered with a supple, light brown wrapper with sheen. Medium strength.

$ 9.00

91

VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

H. Upmann The Banker Daytrader

89

N I CA R AG UA A firmly packed toro produced in a soft boxpressed format and covered with a light brown wrapper with good oils. This medium strength blend draws well and delivers a profile highlighted by nuts, smooth pepper, and cedar complemented by a sweet creaminess throughout.

$ 13.85 VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 54 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

Red Anchor The Admiral

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C A thick, good-looking toro covered with a dark, reddish brown wrapper with a supple feel. Provides a firm draw while producing a light smoke output with notes of wood, allspice, and sweet earth accompanied by a touch of butterscotch.

Medium strength.

$ 25.00

89

VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Dominican Republic FILLER: Dominican Republic

Nat Cicco Aniversary 1965 Liga No. 4

88 64 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

N I CA R AG UA

VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C Covered with a light brown wrapper with a slightly reddish hue, this medium strength toro delivers a core of cedar, nuts, and heavy cream accompanied by a subtle touch of honey on the finish.

Produces a good smoke output leaving behind a solid ash.

$ 8.50

N I CA R AG UA A good-looking, box-pressed toro covered with a clean, medium brown wrapper, topped with a neat pigtail and finished with a covered foot. Consistently provides an excellent draw and plentiful smoke output with notes of earth, smooth pepper, and a touch of caramel sweetness.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY 10TH ANNIVERSARY CRIOLLO

OVCIGARS

OSCAR VALLADARES TOBACCO & CO.

OVCIGARS

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 65

OSCARTOBACCO.COM

TORO Aganorsa Leaf Rare Leaf Reserve Maduro

92

VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 54 WRAPPER: Mexico BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Rocky Patel Sixty

N I CA R AG UA Firmly packed and covered with a dark, evenly colored, oily wrapper with a toothy feel. This balanced and complex blend builds to full strength along a firm draw and slow burn producing notes of sweet pepper, cedar, molasses, and mocha cream.

$ 18.75

91

VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 1/2 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Mexico BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Espinosa Las 6 Provincias CMW BP

91

VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 50 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

La Dueña

N I CA R AG UA A flavorful, box-pressed toro with a balanced combination of smooth pepper, cocoa, and oak complemented by a rich, almond cream note in the background. Impeccably constructed, this medium strength smoke leaves behind a solid, compact ash along a perfect draw.

$ 18.00

N I CA R AG UA A full-flavored and full strength, box-pressed toro covered with a beautiful, dark brown wrapper. Draws and burns beautifully while delivering a complex core of intense pepper, roasted nuts, and charred oak complemented by dark chocolate and a hint of cream.

$ 10.00

90

VITOLA: No. 13 LENGTH: 6 RING: 56 WRAPPER: USA/Connecticut BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

West Tampa Tobacco Co. Black

90 90

N I CA R AG UA A powerful and flavorful, dark toro cloaked in a somewhat rustic-looking wrapper with a coarse, toothy feel. Consistently produces an excellent output of medium to full strength smoke with notes of bittersweet chocolate, smooth earth, and allspice joined by a touch of cedar.

$ 9.99 VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Room 101 14th Anniversary

66 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

$ 13.99

N I CA R AG UA Smooth and flavorful with a core of sweet earth, oak, nuts, and dark chocolate complemented by a touch of spice on the finish. Provides an excellent draw and an even burn while leaving behind a solid, dark gray ash. Medium plus strength.

$ 13.99 VITOLA: Toro LENGTH: 6 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

N I CA R AG UA A beautifully constructed toro finished with a neatly applied dark wrapper with sheen. Consistently draws and burns perfectly while leaving behind a compact, white ash. Delivers a medium plus profile of bittersweet cocoa, cedar, and black pepper with a touch of raisin sweetness.

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 67

ROBUSTO Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series Natural

$ 19.37

N I CA R AG UA

VITOLA: Soberano LENGTH: 5 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

This neatly box-pressed blend consistently delivers a well-balanced combination of smooth earth and spice accompanied by notes of chocolate, lightly roasted nuts, and subtle cedar. Produces an excellent output of medium strength smoke.

Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Edición Diamante

$ 22.86

92 92

VITOLA: Robusto LENGTH: 5 RING: 54 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

HVC Black Friday 2022

Impeccably box-pressed, this medium plus strength robusto delivers a flavorful core of cedar, sweet red pepper, butterscotch, and roasted almond complemented by a rich and creamy texture. Draws and burns flawlessly.

$ 8.50

91

VITOLA: Robusto Extra LENGTH: 5 1/2 RING: 50 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Don Lino Africa

N I CA R AG UA An ultra-flavorful robusto with a profile of sweet cedar, black pepper, roasted almonds, and a touch of cocoa. This medium to full strength blend is covered with a nearly impeccable, reddish brown wrapper.

$ 10.99

90

VITOLA: Punda Milia LENGTH: 5 1/2 RING: 54 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Cameroon FILLER: Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

La Palina KB

N I CA R AG UA Opens with tons of pepper and oak flavors accompanied by subtle notes of coffee and roasted nuts. This perfectly pressed blend delivers an excellent output of medium to full strength smoke along a flawless draw and burn.

$ 10.25

89

VITOLA: Part Three LENGTH: 5 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Honduras BINDER: Honduras FILLER: Nicaragua

Black Star Line Dark War Witch

88 68 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

N I CA R AG UA

H O N D UR AS Opens with intense flavors of spice and sweet earth accompanied by notes of wood, cinnamon, cream, and a touch of saltiness on the lips. This well-made robusto ramps up to full strength before the midway point while producing an excellent smoke output.

$ 12.00 VITOLA: Robusto LENGTH: 5 RING: 50 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

N I CA R AG UA A powerful robusto with a core of intense pepper, wood, and nuts held together by a vanilla cream note in the background. Consistently provides a good draw and a wavy burn while producing an excellent smoke output. Medium to full strength.

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 69

ROBUSTO Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro

92

$ 12.36 VITOLA: Robusto LENGTH: 5 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Mexico BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Undercrown 10

N I CA R AG UA An ultra-consistent soft-pressed robusto with a balanced profile highlighted by notes of dark chocolate, smooth spice, cedar, and caramel with a touch of dark roast coffee. This medium plus strength blend draws and burns impeccably while leaving behind a solid, light gray ash.

$ 12.25

91

VITOLA: Robusto LENGTH: 5 RING: 50 WRAPPER: Mexico BINDER: USA/Connecticut FILLER: Nicaragua

Rocky Patel Sun Grown Maduro

91

N I CA R AG UA Covered with dark, oily wrapper, this consistently well-constructed robusto produces tons of thick, medium strength smoke with flavors of dark roast coffee, sweet earth, and charred oak accompanied by a hint of licorice. Leaves behind a solid, compact ash.

$ 11.25 VITOLA: Robusto LENGTH: 5 RING: 50 WRAPPER: USA/Connecticut BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

N I CA R AG UA A beautifully box-pressed blend finished with a good-looking, dark brown wrapper. Delivers an excellent output of medium bodied smoke with a balanced profile highlighted by notes of smooth pepper, walnuts, and sweet earth accompanied by the aroma of hickory.

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Aladino Corojo Reserva

$ 12.50

90

VITOLA: Robusto LENGTH: 5 RING: 50 WRAPPER: Honduras BINDER: Honduras FILLER: Honduras

Jaime García Reserva Especial

90

70 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

A powerful, dark robusto covered with a somewhat rustic-looking wrapper with prominent veins. Draws well while producing a medium plus strength combination of peppercorn, dark chocolate, and oak accompanied by a honeylike sweetness on the finish.

$ 8.80 VITOLA: Robusto LENGTH: 5 1/4 RING: 52 WRAPPER: USA/Connecticut BINDER: Ecuador FILLER: Nicaragua

Alec Bradley Post Embargo

89

H O N D UR AS

N I CA R AG UA Consistently delivers an earth and pepper core complemented by notes of bittersweet chocolate, espresso, and roasted nuts along an excellent smoke output. This medium to full strength blend is covered with a dark brown wrapper with good oils.

$ 9.35 VITOLA: Robusto LENGTH: 5 RING: 52 WRAPPER: Honduras BINDER: Honduras & Nicaragua FILLER: Honduras & Nicaragua

H O N D UR AS Dark and sweet with a core of pepper, smooth earth, and raisins accompanied by a rich, creamy texture. Provides an open draw from the start and produces an excellent medium bodied output.

CMY

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SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 71

CORONA My Father Cedros Deluxe

$ 10.10

93

VITOLA: Cervantes LENGTH: 6 1/2 RING: 44 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Plasencia Reserva Original

92

A classic blend with a beautifully balanced profile of cedar, toasted almonds, and rich cream accompanied by a touch of cinnamon and smooth spice. Produces an abundant output of medium strength smoke along a flawless draw and burn.

$ 8.82 VITOLA: Corona LENGTH: 6 1/4 RING: 44 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Warped La Colmena

H O N D UR AS Impeccably blended and consistently well-constructed, this medium strength corona delivers a profile of sweet cedar, pepper, and marzipan complemented by a touch of tanned leather and a floral note. Draws perfectly and leaves behind a solid, compact ash.

$ 18.00

91

VITOLA: Amado No. 44 LENGTH: 5 1/2 RING: 44 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Ecuador FILLER: Nicaragua & Dominican Republic

Casa Cuba

USA A beautifully constructed corona covered with a supple wrapper topped with a tight pigtail and a neatly covered foot. Produces an excellent smoke output with a core of white pepper, raw almonds, and cedar complemented by a hint of sweetness. Medium strength.

$ 11.19

91

VITOLA: Divine Inspiration LENGTH: 6 1/8 RING: 47 WRAPPER: Ecuador BINDER: Dominican Republic FILLER: Dominican Republic

Crux Epicure Habano

D O M I N I CA N R E P UBLI C A consistently well-made corona covered with a nearly flawless, light brown wrapper and finished with a slight press. Draws and burns exceptionally while producing a core of cedar, nuts, pepper, and a hint of cinnamon. Medium plus strength.

$ 11.25

90

VITOLA: Corona Gorda LENGTH: 5 3/8 RING: 46 WRAPPER: Nicaragua BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua

Black Label Trading Co. Deliverance Porcelain

89 72 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

N I CA R AG UA

VITOLA: Corona Gorda LENGTH: 5 1/2 RING: 48 WRAPPER: USA/Connecticut BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Nicaragua & USA

N I CA R AG UA Creamy and ultra-flavorful with a core of peppercorn, wood, and earth complemented by a sweet spiciness on the finish. Impeccably constructed, this medium plus strength blend produces an excellent output of thick, aromatic smoke.

$ 10.50

N I CA R AG UA A good-looking corona covered with a clean, light brown wrapper and topped with a neat pigtail. This mild to medium strength blend provides an open draw with a core of black pepper, wood, and earth accompanied by a subtle hint of sweetness.

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 73

There goes

the neighborhood Chef Michael Beltrán of the Michelin-starred Ariete is bringing top-tier hospitality to the cigar bar game in downtown Miami

by Nicolás Antonio Jiménez / Photography by Erick Quituizaca

“What do you name a cigar bar that isn’t a dreadful name?”

Chef Michael Beltrán sends me lots of texts like this one he sent in April 2021. He and I met in 2018 when I was an editor at Cigar Snob Magazine and publishing a podcast with Mike called Pan Con Podcast as a side project.

He’s the chef-owner of Miami-based Ariete Hospitality Group, whose flagship restaurant, Ariete, has been awarded a Michelin Star in each of the last two years.

In the early days of our podcast, Beltrán referred to me as his “creative life partner.”

He did it mainly because he knew it pissed me off, but also because we’d become close enough through the show to be constantly bouncing ideas off one another about other stuff. In this case, he was texting me for name ideas while sitting in a meeting with his partners about a cigar bar they were planning to put next door to Brasserie Laurel, the group’s new French concept.

I knew — because Pan Con Podcast had pulled me behind the Ariete Hospitality Group curtain — that whatever this place was called, it was going to be different. Seven years at Cigar Snob took me to cigar establishments all over the world. Some have huge humidors.

Others, long wine lists. Great views. Central locations. Comfy chairs. But not one had a team behind it with the creativity and hospitality credentials of this company.

What I didn’t know was that I would become involved in the project — and the cigar world, again — as a partner and director of the bar’s cigar program. My response to Beltrán’s text remains my most significant contribution to this business.

“I just had an idea you might be into,” I responded. “You mentioned it’s next to the restaurant as I was thinking of factory and brand names and remembered that the Arturo Fuente farm in Nicaragua is called El Buen Vecino. What if you called it El Vecino?”

Roots at the domino table “I really do love to smoke cigars,” Beltrán told me. His first real introduction to cigar lounges came

76 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

El Vecino Cigars and Cocktails is the second hospitality establishment to open at the new Miami World Center development.

Christmas here,” Falsetto said. “So we were like, ‘Let's go check out a cigar lounge.’ In New York, everything was locked down. He was very excited to do whatever we could, especially smoking, which was not a very easy thing to do in upstate New York. So we went to Galiano Cigar Room in Coral Gables. I had never been, he had never been. And we spent like seven hours just hanging out.”

as a young cook in Miami, working two jobs in his early twenties and spending his one day off a week at a shop where he got to know not only a variety of cigars, but the cigar lounge culture.

“I would literally spend all day, from open to close,” he said, referring to a shop near Miami’s Westchester neighborhood. “Those were the guys that I hung out with. We'd have drinks, talk, play dominoes. During the day, it was an older clientele, people from doctors to politicians to police officers. That was always such a special memory for me. We had a great time and I learned so much about cigars. My dad and I also used to play dominoes at this other little shop in Miami Springs. We just played dominoes all day. You get to know these people and you get to create a bond with them, even if it's for a short time. That was about 16 years ago and I still see some of those guys when they dine at our restaurants.”

Beltrán’s casual musing about opening a cigar bar hadn’t meant much to Andrew before, but that night at Galiano made the idea real in his mind.

“I thought, ‘Man, this is such a fun thing to do.’ There's such a unique social component to it,” Andrew said.

“Especially during COVID, you were craving those social interactions. I called Chef immediately the next day.

I said, ‘I was at Galiano last night. This is something we should do and I have an idea for a location.’”

Brasserie Laurel was the first hospitality business to open at Miami World Center, a 25-acre development in downtown Miami that’s injected new life into a part of the city that, for a long time, was better known for empty lots you might park in for Miami Heat games (at what’s now called the Kaseya Center) than for the luxury condos, retail and restaurants that are sprouting there now. The second to open was El Vecino Cigars & Cocktails.

El Vecino — Spanish for “The Neighbor” — is named that way, in part, because it’s next door to Brasserie Laurel.

But it’s also a recognition that the bar is part of that broader South Florida cigar community that Beltrán spent so much time with early in his career. When I first met Beltrán, he wasn’t drinking and hadn’t been for a long time; all part of a weight loss and general wellness journey that saw him lose about 170 pounds. But he was smoking cigars. We’d light up together often, whether during podcasts, at cigar lounges or on my front porch. Just as they were on his days off earlier in his career, cigars have remained a vehicle for deepening relationships, including our own friendship. So it makes sense that Beltrán would want to make that part of what Ariete Hospitality Group is building.

It’s about experience “I was talking about El Vecino with some industry colleagues from other cigar companies,” said Eddy Guerra, Oettinger Davidoff senior brand manager. “I said, ‘the number one cigar venue in Florida right now is El Vecino.’ My metric might be different than most. For me it’s not just about product selection. It’s more about experience.”

“I wanted to be able to combine the stuff I had been working on my entire career, which was hospitality, with what a cigar shop offers,” he said.

“I remember it was December 26, 2020. A buddy of mine was in town from upstate New York, and he spent

Image credit: FujifilmGirl

Ariete Hospitality partner and CEO Andrew Falsetto was less familiar with that cigar scene when Mike first brought up the idea of the group breaking into the cigar business.

Top to bottom: Brasserie Laurel executive chef Ashley Moncada; Laurel's escargot vol-au-vent is an example of the restaurant's nods to classic French cookery.

That experience, for many guests, begins next door at Brasserie Laurel, where a kitchen team helmed by executive chef Ashley Moncada is bringing Ariete Hospitality’s ethos to diners in downtown Miami.

“Laurel is a nod to classic French food,” Moncada said. “A lot of sauce work, a lot of classical technique, but refining it. Making it look prettier, making it look more modern. The

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 77

Image credit: Amoretto Ashley

— which Andrew Falsetto said took its initial inspiration from the feeling of drinking at a ski lodge — to the fact that every guest at El Vecino is presented with a palate cleansing shot and a finger rinsing bowl filled with water and scented oils before they leave (a brilliant touch that I mocked mercilessly at first when it was introduced by Ariete COO Brittany Rothwell, but which has become a calling card for the bar and many guests’ favorite detail).

modernness has developed since we opened. It was a lot more classic then. The classic technique is still there in a lot of our dishes in terms of sauce work, emulsification, the mother sauces of French cookery and all of that stuff. But we’re mixing it up and using different ingredients and techniques to modernize it.”

“We like to push things and we like change," Moncada continued. "It was never going to be a classic thing all the time. That’s just how we opened to ground technique and establish a knowledge base with the team. Now that we’ve all got that, we can use those techniques and be a bit more creative now that we have our foot in the door.”

There’s also a menu of dishes that Laurel’s kitchen offers exclusively to guests of the cigar bar next door.

That menu at this writing features a chicken and foie gras pâté, lobster cocktail, caviar, poutine, pork terrine, and a burger.

“The menu at El Vecino was based on the fact that people are going to

78 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

Image credit: FujifilmGirl

Some of Laurel’s dishes have become instant favorites with diners — the venison, a whole guinea fowl for two, and foie gras served with a berry gastrique, canelé and cocoa nibs, for instance.

Top to bottom: El Vecino's bar puts an emphasis on a carefully curated spirits selection and cocktail program; Barry's Burger and Poutine Au Poivre are the two most popular items on the menu that Brasserie Laurel makes available at El Vecino. be there for hours,” Moncada said.

“They’re probably going to be sharing things, so we went charcuterie forward. Something you can spread on bread or a cracker, something you can nibble on for hours. And then obviously the burger everyone loves.

It’s a classic.”

The chef-driven approach and high standards that this company takes to its restaurants have carried over to El Vecino, where cigars and cocktails are front and center.

“Mike’s food is unexpected finesse,” said Eddy Guerra. “I get the same type of emotion when I step into El Vecino.

Nobody else has got the pedigree that group has right now to be able to pull that off [in a cigar bar].”

That “unexpected finesse” that Guerra refers to comes through in everything from the interior design

The cocktail program — featuring a menu of signature drinks I was tasked with naming — is also a cut above what’s typical in cigar lounges, being treated with the seriousness of the programs at Laurel, Ariete and The Gibson Room (another Ariete Hospitality concept that has been recognized as one of the country’s best new cocktail bars).

“El Vecino’s bar is not stacked to the rafters with 80 billion bourbons and cocktail mixers and a bunch of tequilas,” Guerra said. “You have good shit and it is what it is. It’s the same in your humidor. Not a huge selection, but everything is fire. Just like a restaurant. Look at Laurel. The menu’s tight, but everything is incredible.”

“Honestly, it was my personal mission to make sure that we were there,” he added. “Everything we’ve been doing for the last four years at Davidoff has been about curating experiences, creating quality moments, and you can only do that with proper partners.

When you know what Mike Beltrán is doing with food, you know that his mentality and his team’s mentality is the same. I didn’t have to set foot in the place to know it was going to be incredible. People who want a proper Davidoff experience should go to this corner in downtown Miami. You’re going to start off at an incredible French restaurant, then you’re going to go next door for a cocktail and a cigar, and you’re going to go ‘Wow. What a night.’”

“If you're a bartender that doesn't really know, it’s a whole different world,” Beltrán said, whose go-to is a rum negroni. “Classic cocktail culture is a really long study. You can't just pop into a bar and be like, ‘Yeah, I know how to make classic cocktails.’

It doesn't work that way. AHG has really tuned up our cocktails a lot in the last few years and it prepared us

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 79

for what El Vecino has done.”

When I first joined Cigar Snob Magazine in 2013, I did it for the magazine part, not the cigars. But over the seven years that I was with the magazine — smoking all the cigars, visiting the factories and farms, traveling all over the country to cigar bars and retailers — I picked up a knowledge base that made the friendship I’ve developed with Beltrán and others at AHG a

What’s more, the Ariete reputation means we often have enough of a guest's trust that they’re ready to jump into a bit of learning and to smoke outside their comfort zones from the jump. When they’re curious about cigar construction (“When you say binder, what do you mean exactly?”), we’ll occasionally sit with them at their tables and cut cigars open as we talk through how they’re built. And if guests don’t quite understand what we mean when we say maduro wrappers have a sweetness to them, I’ll often offer

happy coincidence. I wasn’t looking to get back into the cigar business, and I wouldn’t have accepted an invitation to do it from any other group. Knowing Beltrán, though, I understood that he was looking to create something I’d never seen before.

them a cigar — often Herrera Estelí Brazilian Maduro Lonsdale Deluxe — from which I’ve removed about a half inch of wrapper at the foot so they can feel that sweetness round out the blend when it starts burning and joins the filler and binder.

He and his team put rich, thoughtful experiences at the center of everything they do. That means guests who know Ariete Hospitality aren’t just ready for a good time, they’re ready to experience and learn new things. That’s given us the ability to take a somewhat different approach to our cigar selection and how we guide guests through it.

For instance, despite keeping the selection tight, we’re big on what some people call smoker’s sizes like lancero and lonsdale, and the selection was curated with heavy consideration given to pairings with our cocktail program.

“So many companies are branded houses, right?" said Jonathan Drew, co-founder of Drew Estate Cigars.

“Arturo Fuente, Rocky Patel, Perdomo, My Father. All great companies, but all of their brands fall under that master brand.

Image credit: Amoretto Ashley

In the humidor

80 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

“Each of these brands have their own worlds, their own expressions. At Drew Estate we speak with 10 voices.

For us to see Drew Estate smokers at El Vecino feels right for a number of our brands. All of our brands can be enjoyed anywhere; but when I saw dudes sitting in El Vecino smoking Liga Privada, I knew they were doing it in style. All the senses are lit up.”

Left to right: The interior design of El Vecino is modern and stylish, befitting its downtown Miami locale; Chef Michael Beltran at El Vecino smoking a Herrera Esteli Miami.

Unlike so many of Ariete Hospitality’s other establishments, El Vecino’s is an experience that Beltrán can actually let himself enjoy in the same way Drew hopes any other smoker will.

“This was totally a selfish move for me,” Beltrán said. “I can go there and just enjoy my time. When it comes to dining in my own restaurants, I rarely have a good time. I know that sounds terrible, but it's just because they’re food oriented and I see all the things, you know? This is a very different dynamic. I go to El Vecino to be a guest, not to work. It’s pretty awesome.”

El Vecino isn’t a huge bar, but it punches above its weight. I’d bet it’ll have an outsized influence on what

smokers and tobacconists think a cigar bar can be now that we’ve planted our flag — the design for which Beltrán was already having fun with back in 2021 when I texted him the bar name idea.

“Oh man. That’s amazing. I love this idea. It’s done. Already approved by all partners,” he replied.

“The logo is a silhouette of me in my big hat.”

Nicolás Antonio Jiménez was senior editor at Cigar Snob Magazine from 2013 to 2020. He founded DADEmag. com, where he produces and publishes Pan Con Podcast with Michael Beltrán.

Since the start of 2023, he’s been the director of cigar programming at El Vecino Cigars & Cocktails in Miami.

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 81

SCOREBOARD We started paying attention to the platform formerly known as Twitter in our March/April 2010 issue when we had our friend and co-founder of Stogie Review Walt White write a story about Twitter’s impact on the cigar world. The following issue was the first to run a Twitter Scoreboard and ever since we’ve been keeping tabs on the Twitter accounts of cigar companies, personalities, retailers, and more. Today we transition from calling it the Twitter Scoreboard to the odd-sounding X Scoreboard. We’ve traded the powder blue and bird for a minimalistic, modern X on a black background but as always, if you believe you have the numbers to be on this page, let us know via @cigarsnobmag.

TOP CIGAR COMPANIES ( sorted by Twitter followers ) Drew Estate Cigars @DrewEstateCigar ....................................

Rocky Patel @RockyPatelCigar ...............................................

Padron Cigar @PadronCigars ..................................................

CAO International @CAOCigars ................................................

Ashton Cigars @ashtoncigar ...................................................

Alec Bradley Cigars @AlecBradley ...........................................

La Flor Dominicana @LFDCigars ..............................................

Jonathan Drew @JonathanDrewArt .........................................

Camacho Cigars @camachocigars ...........................................

La Gloria Cubana @lagloriacubana ..........................................

Pete Johnson @TatuajeCigars ..................................................

Xikar Inc @XIKARinc ...............................................................

E. Perez-Carillo @EPCarrillo ....................................................

Davidoff Cigars @Davidoff_Cigars ...........................................

Oliva Cigar Company @OlivaCigar .............................................

JC Newman Cigar @JCNewmanCigars .......................................

Nick Perdomo @PerdomoCigars ..............................................

AJ Fernandez @ajfcigars .........................................................

Punch Cigars @punchcigars ....................................................

Ernesto Padilla @PadillaCigars ................................................

TOP CIGAR ORGANIZATIONS

45244 40525 28954 28587 23830 21166 20572 17629 17312 16019 15613 15022 14897 14393 14053 13956 13905 13383 12987 12863

TOP CIGAR RETAILERS & REPS Famous Smoke Shop @FamousSmokeShop .............................

Mulberry St. Cigars @MulberryStCigar ....................................

Cigar Hustler @cigarhustler .....................................................

Jeff Borysiewicz – Corona Cigar Co @CoronaCigarCo................

Cigar Row @CigarRow ............................................................

Barry – Two Guys Smoke Shop @Barry2Guys ...........................

Michael Herklots @MichaelHerklots .........................................

Lindsay Siddiqi @TheCigarChick ..............................................

Cheap Humidors @cheaphumidors ..........................................

Buckhead Cigar @BuckheadCigar ............................................

19708 12381 10213 7880 7117 6191 6021 4780 4645 3977

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TOP CIGAR RADIO Cigar Dave Show @CigarDaveShow ........................................ 10064 KMA Talk Radio @KMATalkRadio ............................................. 2035 Cigars and Scotch @CigarScotch ............................................ 2047

SOME OF OUR FAVORITE TWEETS, MENTIONS, AND RANDOM SOCIAL MEDIA GOODNESS.

@ladyaficionada

La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor #2023 #ladyaficionada #cigars #womensmokecigarstoo #cigarlover #cigarsnob #cigarsnobmagazine #cigaraficionado #cigaraficionadomagazine #cigarmodels #sotl #botl #pssita #laaromadecuba

@amhumidors

TOP ONLINE CIGAR TWEEPLES David Voth–Sex, Cigars, & Booze @SexCigarsBooze .................

Cigar News @CigaRSS ............................................................

Cigar Events @CigarEvents .....................................................

Blind Man’s Puff @BlindMansPuff ............................................

Cigar Dojo @CigarDojo ............................................................

Robusto Cigar Babe @RobustoBabe ........................................

Cigar Federation @CigarFederation .........................................

CigarHustler.com @CigarHustler .............................................

Stephen LaPre, Sr. @CigarChairman .........................................

Cigar Vixen @CigarVixen .........................................................

Cigar Rights of America @cigarrights ...................................... 14537 Premium Cigar Association @PCA1933 .................................... 9827 Tobacconist University @tobacconistU ................................... 4229

135092 19936 16295 14624 12583 12009 11148 10213 8996 8507

#amhumidors #amcigars #cigar #humidor #habanos #travel #davidoff #cigars #luxury #cigarians #luxurycigars #luxurysmoke #life #fab #sotl #foundationcigars #tobacco #opusx #cigaraficionado #cigarsnob #botl #luxurylifestyle #wine

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 83

INSTAGRAM SCOREBOARD Since its launch in October of 2010, the cigar world has become enamored with Instagram. Today the ‘Gram is unquestionably the most popular platform on which to share snaps of what you’re smoking and drinking. This scoreboard is sorted by number of followers and broken into groups: Top 20 Cigar & Cigar Accessory Companies, Top 10 Retailers & Reps, Top 10 Cigar Influencers, Top 3 Cigar Organizations, and Top 3 Cigar Radio accounts. If you have the numbers and belong in one of these groups, stand up and be counted! Set us straight via Instagram @cigarsnobmag.

TOP CIGAR & ACCESSORY COMPANIES ( sorted by Instagram followers ) Padron Cigar @padroncigars ...................................................

Davidoff Cigars @davidoffcigars .............................................

Drew Estate Cigars @drewestatecigar .....................................

Arturo Fuente @arturofuentecigars .........................................

Rocky Patel Premium Cigars @rockypatelcigar ........................

Raquel Quesada @raquelquesadaofficial .................................

Epic Cigars @epiccigars .........................................................

Boveda @BovedaInc ...............................................................

Gurkha Cigars @gurkhacigars .................................................

Xikar Inc @xikar .....................................................................

My Father Cigars @myfathercigars ..........................................

La Flor Dominicana @LFDCigars ..............................................

Camacho Cigars @camachocigars ...........................................

Oliva Cigar Co. @olivacigar .....................................................

Ashton Cigars @ashtoncigar ...................................................

AJ Fernandez @ajfcigars .........................................................

Plasencia Cigars @plasenciacigars .........................................

Nick Perdomo @Perdomocigars ..............................................

Alec Bradley Cigars @alecbradleycigar ....................................

E.P. CarrilloCigars @epcarrillo_cigars ......................................

168840 150169 144557 113557 112654 111212 86396 86009 79461 77129 74694 74575 74010 70480 65392 64658 61046 60667 60437 54640

TOP CIGAR RETAILERS & REPS Privada Cigar Club @privadacigarclub .....................................

Havana Phil’s Cigar Company @havanaphils .............................

Famous Smoke Shop @famoussmokeshop ...............................

Mulberry St. Cigars @mulberrystcigars ...................................

Michael Herklots @michaelherklots .........................................

Cigar Hustler @cigarhustler ....................................................

The Cigar Culture @thecigarculture .........................................

Master Sensei @cigardojo ......................................................

Angela Yue @angela_yue .........................................................

La Casa Cigars & Lounge Vegas @lacasavegas ........................

108133 61276 55182 45341 31041 28926 28048 27978 24958 24446

TOP CIGAR ORGANIZATIONS Premium Cigar Association @PCA1933 .................................... 21097 Total Product Expo @totalproductexpo ..................................... 7890 Cigar Rights of America @cigarrightsofamerica ......................... 4901

TOP CIGAR RADIO Cigar Dave Show @cigardave ................................................. 3601 KMA Talk Radio @KMATalkRadio ............................................. 1584 Eat Drink Smoke @eatdrinksmokepodcast .............................. 1427

SOME OF OUR FAVORITE TWEETS, MENTIONS, AND RANDOM SOCIAL MEDIA GOODNESS.

@the_smokin_ blondes

With our buddy, the infamous, Javier When in Dallas… the best place to smoke! #cigar #cigarsnob #cigarwomendoitbetter #cigarbae #cigaraficionado #cigarlife #cigarlover #cigarsociety #cigaroftheday #cigarsociety #womencigarsmokers

TOP ONLINE CIGAR INFLUENCERS ON INSTAGRAM Liz Cigar Life Style @remarkable_liz ........................................

Cigar Lover @cigarlover12 ......................................................

Delicia-Creator-Influencer @cigarvixen ...................................

Whiskey Girl Josie @whiskeygirl_josie .....................................

Eric Kim @scotchandtime ........................................................

Angela, CCST & IACS CCS @cigarsmokingchick .......................

Nikki @cigarpassionista ..........................................................

Melanie Sisco @lilsiscokidd21 .................................................

Cigars / Smoke.Laugh.Live @world.of.cigars ............................

HERficinado / Cigar Lifestyle @herficionado .............................

84 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

104617 102687 90260 89203 64147 50475 41621 40621 35763 32205

@rockypatelpersonal Lots to learn from amazing friends in the cigar industry that we love.

CELEBRATE A DECADE OF DEDICATION WITH THE UNDENIABLY BIG, BOLD & COMPLEX UNDERCROWN 10.

LOADED WITH EARTHY SWEETNESS, BLACK PEPPER SPICE WITH NOTES OF SUN-DRIED CHERRIES, RAISINS, AND A MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE FINISH THAT IS NOTHING SHORT OF WOW!

WWW.DREWESTATE.COM SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 85

EVENTS PCA OPENING PARTY Las Vegas, NV

The kickoff to the Premium Cigar Association’s 2023 trade show was sponsored by Espinosa Cigars, Quality Importers, Room 101 Cigars and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust.

Attendees lined up to get the complimentary cigars offered by the sponsors, and Guy Fieri made an appearance at the Espinosa booth for photos and autographs.

Frank Herrera and Elissa Noyes

Dr. Gustavo Plasencia, Pasquale Montesano, Justo Parada, Néstor Plasencia Sr., Ralph de la Rosa and Néstor Plasencia Jr.

Yadira Creighton and Eli La Rosa

Armando and Melissa Artamendi and Michael Giannini

EVENTS STG PCA MEDIA COCKTAIL PARTY Las Vegas, NV

STG hosted a media gathering at Brezza’s outside patio, welcoming attendees with an assortment of their cigars, including their latest releases from Room 101 and Bolivar.

Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and an open bar. Brezza has been named one of the 20 best Italian restaurants in the U.S. by Tasting Table.

Regis Broersma, Victoria McKee and Justin Andrews

86 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

Iván and Ivelisse Ocampo

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 87

EVENTS MY FATHER 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY DINNER PARTY Las Vegas, NV

My Father Cigars and Tatuaje celebrated their 20-year anniversary with a dinner at Lavo Italian Restaurant with family, friends, industry partners, and retailers. All guests received a commemorative box with the My Father Don Pepin 20th Anniversary Limited Edition and the Tatuaje 20th Anniversary cigars. The night began with cocktails and cigars on the outdoor patio, followed by a toast by VP of sales Jose Ortega. Dinner was served family-style, followed by more cigars, and Don Pepín and the family closed out the dinner singing some of Pepin’s favorites a capella.

Ricardo Carioni, David Pérez, Jaime and Pepín García, Pepe Palacios and Gustavo Velayos

Janny García-Johnson, Rita Pérez and Dianely García

Erika, Tony, Joel, Joaquin Saladrigas, Brendon and Sol

Joseph Pérez, Oquel Guerra, William Saladrigas, Josef Joudeh, Maria López and Alcides Montenegro

David, Annie and Aglyn Pérez

88 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

Boris Grossman, Mark Cowlin Jr, Will Pirk, Mike Glynn, Moe Elarby and Dhiren Shah

Anne Lambrecht and Angela Powers

Kim Capizzano, Mark Just, Geno and Matt Waris

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 89

EVENTS NESTOR MIRANDA’S 80TH BIRTHDAY Las Vegas, NV

Nestor Miranda is making sure his 80th birthday is well-celebrated, so we met for a Vegas soiree at Gatsby’s Cocktail Lounge at Resort World Las Vegas. The birthday event was combined with the 25th Anniversary of Tatiana Cigars. Gatsby’s experienced a Miami Cigar #OneLife takeover for the night where guests enjoyed cigars, cocktails, light bites, dancing and mingling. The crowd included cigar celebs Rocky and Nish Patel, Carlito Fuente, and Arturo Sandoval. When he was serenaded with a version of Happy Birthday, VIP Hostesses danced along with Nestor holding sparklers and pouring champagne.

Néstor Miranda and Jason Wood

Aaron and Chrisie Leland and Omar Fernández

Ciro Rodríguez, Massiel Prieto, Ozzie Gómez and Luis Requejo

90 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

Arturo Sandoval, Rocky Patel, Carlos "Carlito" Fuente Jr, Néstor Miranda and Nish Patel

Gabríel Piñeres and Liza Santana

Ana Villanueva and Reinier Lorenzo

Catherine Llibre, Antonio Taveras and Luly Toribio

María Calvo and Justin Zappulla

Diego Castellanos, Tony Gómez, Alex Berezowski, Jason Wood and Hostos Fernández Quesada

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 91

EVENTS AGING ROOM AT SABOR HAVANA Doral, FL

We caught up with Rafael Nodal at Sabor Havana as he presented his new Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Sonata. Guests each received a three-cigar sampler of the latest Aging Room release while store owners Aquiles and Jorge displayed their hospitality skills to ensure the night went well for guests with tapas like Spanish tortilla, Manchego cheese, and Jamon Ibérico from local restaurant The Hamoneria along with free-flowing Spanish red wine.

Yoel Chacón and Jorge Araúz

Jill Meyers, Jorge Valdés and Rafael Nodal

Jamilet Calviño, Jill Meyers, Ibis Lú and Sulenny Barthelemy Vigñote

Alfredo Pérez, Roly Álvarez and Osvaldo Pérez

José Raúl Pérez and Juan del Cerro Sr.

92 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

Ramón Leira and Justo Parada

Jill Meyers and Rafael Nodal

Jorge Reyes and Fernando Fariñas

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 93

EVENTS LA AURORA AT EMPIRE SOCIAL LOUNGE Brickell, FL

Empire hosted a private Dominican-themed event for their club members to welcome La Aurora Cigars. They poured the E. Leon Jimenes Rum while La Aurora master blender Manuel Ynoa spoke about the rum, its characteristics, and how it pairs with La Aurora’s cigars. He explained how their cigars are made and explained the different stages of the cigar smoking experience. After the seminar the party got started with live Dominican music from local band Los Pascual.

Byron Marín and Néstor Miranda

Lourdes Sánchez and Edwin Berros

Adriel Sánchez and Mike Díaz

94 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

Willy Marante, Manuel Ynoa and Néstor Miranda

Alex SanGiovanni, Willy Marante, Greyci Rodríguez and Elvis Batista

Viviana Kafie, Manuel Ynoa and Gaby Kafie

Byron Marín and Brittany McNell

Alex SanGiovanni and Frank Pauli

Darryl Redmon and Roop Sood

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 95

EVENTS SISTERS IN SMOKE BRUNCH Los Angeles, CA

Sonoritas Prime Tacos, DTLA

96 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

Chere Wright, Ben Wills, Kim Watkins

Myesha Michele and Yvonne

Christiana Gilford, Honey Bubble Wine

Bebe Cierra, Kim Watkins, Chere Wright and Tamika Lyles

Photos by: Modern LaLa Land Creative

The Inaugural Sisters In Smoke Brunch presented by Ben Wills and Myesha Michelle was hosted by Sonoritas Prime Tacos in Los Angeles.

Fifty attendees enjoyed a Mexican brunch of huevos con chorizo and breakfast quesadillas with sausage and assorted margaritas, including spicy, cucumber, and hibiscus. Everyone received three cigars produced by women-led brands: K by Karen Berger, Saga Solaz, and Belleau Wood by Casa de Ortez, as well as a Boveda bag, a branded cutter and a lighter.

Alejandro Martínez Cuenca Joya De Nicaragua

Dion Giolito Illusione Cigars

Carlos "Carlito" Fuente, Jr. Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia.

Erik Espinosa Espinosa Cigars

Karl Malone Barrel-Aged by Karl Malone

cigarsnobmag.com/podcast

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 97

EVENTS AN EVENING WITH CARLITO FUENTE AT SERAFIN DE CUBA CIGARS Tarpon Springs, FL

Since 2007, Serafin de Cuba Cigars has been serving this community’s premium cigar needs from its storefront on Dodecanese Boulevard.

The store sells its own brands as well as a curated selection of premium cigars, including the Fuente Fuente Opus X, which took center stage this evening thanks to an appearance

by Carlito and Cynthia Fuente. The catered event also featured specials on all Fuente cigars, book and box signings by Carlito, and live music by Son de Cuba.

Arnold Serafín and Cynthia Fuente

Brandon and Arnold Serafín and Carlos "Carlito" Fuente Jr.

Dr. De Jong and Carlos "Carlito" Fuente Jr

Belkys Sánchez and Danny Nippers

Serafín family with Carlos "Carlito" Fuente Jr.

Richie Rivera and Carlos "Carlito" Fuente Jr

98 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023

Arnold Serafín, Wilfredo Sánchez and Fernando Robalino

George Migliore

SEPT / OCT 2023 | CIGAR SNOB | 99

100 | CIGAR SNOB | SEPT / OCT 2023